George H. Taylor

Credentials

Background

George Taylor is a past faculty member at Oregon State University. He has become a controversial figure in Oregon, where he previsuly used the title of “State Climatologist.”

Although some profiles[2] list Taylor as faculty member at Oregon State University’s College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences, a list of COAS Faculty[3] (as of February, 2012) does not include his name. Taylor retired from his position as manager of the Oregon Climate Service at Oregon State University in May, 2008. [2], [3]

The Oregon State Governor’s office has since stated that “George Taylor doesn't represent the governor's office, and he doesn't represent the state of Oregon.” The same August 2005 news article[4] reports that, “Taylor himself has supplemented his government salary with oil money.” [4]

One independent investigation into Taylor's title as “Oregon State Climatologist” is documented here[5]. [5]

Governor Ted Kulongoski clarified[6], “He is Oregon State University's climatologist. He is not the state of Oregon's climatologist.” [6]

Until recently, TCS was run by Washington lobby/PR firm DCI Group and was the centre of controversy[12] over a YouTube Al Gore spoof video they produced and posted under the guise of 29-year old amateur filmmaker.

Stance on Climate Change

“It's not clear that we are seeing unprecedented warming, and it's definitely untrue that any warming trend can be assigned to human activities. Natural variations in climate are much more significant than any human activities.” [4]

Key Quotes

“Most of the climate change we`ve seen up until now has been as a result of natural variations.” [8]

Key Deeds

March, 2009

Taylor was a speaker[13] at the Heartland Institute's 2009 International Conference on Climate Change. [9]

“Taylor's colleagues at Oregon State's College of Oceanic and Atmospheric Sciences have grown frustrated over the years with what they consider his misunderstanding of climate-change facts. On multiple occasions, faculty members found it necessary to correct statements in Taylor's regular 'Weather Matters' column in the Corvallis Gazette-Times.”

Phillip Mote, the climatologist for neighboring Washington State, “surmises that Taylor is guilty of looking only at data that support his views, while discarding the rest. You can only come to that conclusion if you handpick the climate records,” said Mote. He also says that, “while his Oregon counterpart is a good friend [Taylor’s] dead wrong about global warming.”

The same article reported: “While Taylor holds the title of 'state climatologist,' the office of the Governor of Oregon has stated: 'The state climatologist does not speak for the governor on global warming,' says Van't Hof, Kulongoski's sustainability policy advisor. 'George Taylor doesn't represent the governor's office, and he doesn't represent the state of Oregon,' the aide says. 'The governor consistently is in favor of addressing global warming. Global warming is real and is greatly accelerated by human activity'.”